


Aileron

by simplecoffee



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fever, Gen, Hugs, IM2 tag, Palladium Poisoning, pain (physical)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-30 15:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1020512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplecoffee/pseuds/simplecoffee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene from IM2. Tony's in pain; for an instant or two, his shields crumble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aileron

**Author's Note:**

> Antihistamine-influenced minific in response to a [prompt](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/17385.html?thread=39702249#t39702249) that may or may not have been my own: _Can we have fic dealing with the constant bone-deep **pain** Tony must have been in during IM2? Seriously, anything exploring that. Did he pass the first symptoms of the poisoning off as stress headaches until the pain spread and/or became so bad he couldn't ignore it any more? How bad was it the night of the Expo? How much did Rhodey's propping him up help/hinder? Struggling to hide it from Pepper? JARVIS becoming more and more frantic as it got harder and harder to stay conscious? The Avengers finding tapes years afterwards and actually noticing how tired he looks in them? Hell, give me Tony dropping his guard and asking 'Natalie' to hug him if you feel so inclined. ANYTHING, lovely anons. Pretty please and thank you.  <3_  
> Posted here in order to fix a couple of typos which were annoying the hell out of me. :P
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Whether or not the prompt is mine, I sincerely hope more people pick it up, because it needs _all the fills_.~~

Tony's tired. Tony's exhausted. JARVIS isn't screaming because there's someone else in the room, and he thinks if he closes his eyes this time there might just be no opening them again.  
  
"Will that be all, Mr Stark?" says the other person in the room.  
  
"Hug me," he blurts out, considers launching into a hasty retraction but can't find the words and isn't _that_ terrifying - only instead of radiating seven shades of _sexual harassment lawsuit_ , she gives him a head-tilted look of appraisal and...hugs him.  
  
She's a good hugger. The pain in his shoulders eases just enough to make him doubly aware of the rest of him, the quiet inexorable pounding in muscle and bone alike; his head hurts so badly all he wants to do is cry, and he's beginning to think he might throw up or pass out when she starts to let go.  
  
"Stay," he croaks, because of course all he needs is to look _more_ pathetic to her right now, "just a little longer...please?"  
  
Impossibly, she does. Sits down beside him and holds him gently around the shoulders while he drops his head against hers to conceal the fact that it's spinning, apparently oblivious to his measured breaths - until the moment passes and she's disentangling herself from him, forcing him to stay upright once more under his own power.  
  
"You're running a fever," notes Natalie dispassionately.  
  
Tony watches her settle at what amounts to parade rest, wishes desperately for Pepper in her stead, hates himself for daring to wish it, briefly considers JARVIS' no doubt rising panic at his hair's-breadth level of consciousness - then thinks, _fuck it_ , and _happy birthday to me_ , and quietly asks her for another martini.  
  
("Shaken or stirred?" she says, deadpan, and Tony throws back his head and laughs with only the tiniest wheeze to his breath.)

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  ~~What is it with me and weirdly tangential titles? I DO NOT KNOW.~~   
> 


End file.
